Flow

I think if I had a religion, it would be flow. In my life moments of flow have been those where I am most connected to some sort of higher energy and feel in-touch. There are a few places that I experience flow; swimming, running after the 4th mile, drawing from real life, pottery, designing and (of course) sex. I don't always get there, but when I do, it's magic and addictive.

As a mentor and manager, my holy grail was helping my girls discover their own flow-creating process at work. I think if you are a creative professional, finding the faucet for your flow is really important and something you can't abuse or take lightly.  When I lived in LA, I worked at a really high-paced intense clothing company. I usually worked 6-7 days a week and I was SO in the flow. I loved it and was what you might call a workaholic. One of my methods to stay there was that I made time for hiking in a nearby canyon for 3 miles, at least 3 days a week. This kept my flow open and kept my creativity 'fed'.

There are theories of creativity that suggest that the right brain is your creative center and your left is the analytical. Though breaking it out like this does sound overly reductive, I do agree with the idea of having the flow space and the analytical space separated. That's part of the reason why it's so important to create a comfortable, non-judgmental space to work in. Both externally and internally.

Make lots of stuff, you can judge it later.